• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 12, 2020

Smart home device owners are open to the idea of sharing data from their devices, but for a price.

The majority (78%) of smart home device owners would be willing to share data from their devices with their insurance companies, although 65% of those would do it only if they were offered a discount or incentive, based on a new study.

Fewer than a fourth (22%) said they would not share their data with their insurer regardless of discount or incentive.

The study by LexisNexis Risk Solutions comprised a survey of 2,500 U.S. homeowner insurance policy holders between the ages of 25 and 65 with household income of at least $25,000.

An interesting finding in the study is that most consumers who already own a smart home device would be willing to buy or install another one if they were offered a discount on their home insurance policy.

By device, owners are most interested in discounts for installing smart smoke detectors (75%), smart thermostats (70%), outdoor security cameras (69%), smart doorbells with video (68%) and smart door locks (66%).

However, no matter the amount of data being shared, consumers have concerns about privacy.

The majority (71%) of device owners are concerned about smart home devices that monitor with the use of video and 60% about devices that monitor without the use of video.

Consumers worry that devices can tell what they’re doing with the prospects of their devices passing that information along.

That’s a concerning not going away anytime soon.